Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is in Warsaw on Monday, where he signed a new security agreement with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Given that the sought-after admission into NATO has been on hold, Zelensky has been inking separate defense pacts with individual G7 and NATO countries, including Germany, the US, UK, France, and the EU. But there's a key and unprecedented provision in this newest pact with Poland, centered on authorization for Polish forces to intercept inbound Russian missiles over Ukrainian territory.
According to the agreement, Ukraine has formally given its permission for such anti-air intercepts in the scenario where Warsaw believes a Russian rocket is headed toward Polish territory.
According to Ukrainian media:
Ukraine and Poland agreed to further develop political, military, and economic cooperation, and "cooperate closely in the reconstruction of Ukraine as a sovereign and democratic state."
During the joint press conference with Tusk, Zelensky thanked Poland for the "special agreements" in the document.
The president added that the security agreement includes a provision to develop "a mechanism" for intercepting Russian missiles and drones in Ukraine's airspace aimed at Poland.
Tusk said in a press conference that the two partners "will work together to work out how we can quickly implement this point" of the deal.
Tusk confirmed that the provision is mentioned as part of the agreement, but still attempted to downplay it, explaining that it "indicates the need for talks on this matter," as cited in regional reports.
Apparently recognizing the potential that this could trigger Article 5, Tusk continued: "We need clear cooperation within NATO here, because such actions require joint NATO responsibility."
He stipulated, just ahead of this week's annual NATO summit in Washington D.C., that "We will include other NATO allies in this conversation. So we treat the matter seriously as open, but not yet finalized."
The provision appears a desperate attempt of Zelensky to get a NATO country to ink deals premised on commitments to come directly to Ukraine's military aid. If Poland did so, it would not be merely defending its neighbor Ukraine, but would be intervening against Russia's military.
While there have been 'errant' missiles from the Ukraine war which have fallen on Polish territory, in once instance causing a civilian's death, neighboring NATO states have thus far not fired directly on Russian forces or assets.
